Operation Banquet

Operation Banquet
de Havilland DH 82A Tiger Moth, N81DH
Planned	1940–1941
Planned by	United Kingdom
Objective	Defence of Britain against German invasion
Executed by	Royal Air Force
Outcome	Cancelled

Operation Banquet was a British plan to use every available aircraft to repel a threatened German invasion in 1940 or 1941. During the Second World War, in May 1940, the Air Ministry realised that beyond the normal reserves of the Royal Air Force (RAF), it may be necessary to throw everything into a last-ditch battle for British liberty. To this end, the Air Ministry planned to use just about anything that could fly. On 17 May 1940, an Air Ministry meeting outlined a series of ambitious plans to make use of various aircraft in the event of an invasion.

With the Fall of France in July 1940, the Germans threatened to invade Britain. The British Government made urgent efforts to prepare to meet the threatened invasion and the RAF engaged the German Luftwaffe in a struggle for air superiority over Britain, in what became known as the Battle of Britain.

On 13 July 1940, the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Training Command was ordered to plan to make the maximum practical number of aircraft available for operations. The overall plan was known as Operation Banquet and was divided into a number of separate operations that could be enacted independently. Banquet 6 Group would see the absorption of No 6 Group units (the Group Pool units, not the later Royal Canadian Air Force) into the operational striking force of RAF Bomber Command. Banquet 22 Group would move certain 22 group (Army Cooperation) aircraft into the operational striking force of Bomber Command. Striking more of a note of desperation were Banquet Alert which called for the employment of Fleet Air Arm training aircraft under Coastal Command and Banquet Training which called for the absorption of aircraft from Training Command into the operational striking force of Bomber Command.

...
Wikipedia